Numerous boat trailers have been developed in the past with specific accommodations for receiving and distributing the weight of a boat between rollers or elongated flexible "bunks" engaging the boat hull.
The keel area of a boat is typically designed to be relatively strong, while the hull areas are much more fragile. It is therefor desirable for the support devices in a boat trailer to engage the boat hull over a fairly large surface area to provide partial support and to support the remainder of the boat along the keel area.
It is desirable to provide a share of support along the keel, because the keel is typically the strongest area on a boat. However, it represents only a small fraction of the total surface area for potential support. When only keel support is provided, stability of the boat on the trailer is minimal. An "ideal" support will proportion the received weight of the boat in a desired relationship between keel supports and hull supports.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,933 granted to the present applicant discloses a much needed solution to the above problem by provision of a boat hull support arrangement that will automatically adapt to individual hull configurations while maintaining a desired weight support ratio between the hull and keel engaging members thereof.
A need remains, however, for such a trailer with the above qualities, but with improvements that will facilitate loading and unloading of boats in relatively shallow water, or in areas where the trailer cannot be backed far into the water for loading or unloading purposes.